This invention relates to an improved surgical stapling instrument and method for joining hollow body organs, including but not limited to the bowels, rectum and intestines. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of an evacuating stapling head assembly in cooperation with an anvil assembly to draw a portion of the hollow body organ into the head for transecting the drawn portion and stapling the ends of the remaining organ section to close the transaction site.
Circular surgical stapling devices are well known in the art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,522,543 and 6,083,241 are typical of this prior art. Particularly informative of the state of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,271 to Lango, et al., which patent disclosure is incorporated herein for all purposes.
Stapled rectal mucosectomy or anopexy consist in the relocation of prolapsing hemorrhoids to their anatomical place within the anal canal by means of a circumferential resection of the redundant mucosa situated above the hemorrhoids.
The most difficult step in the procedure for mucosa prolapse and hemorrhoids is placement of the purse-string suture. U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,271 discloses the step of the procedure in sufficient detail for comprehension by one of ordinary skill in the art. Briefly, the purse string is placed using the purse string anoscope in a circumferential manner at 4 cm proximal to the dentate line. Placing the purse string at the correct position can be difficult due to poor lighting and visualization of the anal canal through the purse string device. There has been an association between incorporating longitudinal muscle fibers of the rectum and fibers of the internal anal sphincter in the resected doughnut. The development of severe anal pain, fecal urgency and even some cases of perforation with local sepsis can be associated to purse string misplacement. It is believed that the technical issues regarding these complications have to do with the misplacement of the purse-string suture. The present invention method and apparatus completely eliminates the need for this risky purse-string suturing step in a hemorrhoidectomy.